Page 21 of Izzy
"Just friends, I promise. You don't have anything to worry about with me."
"What do you mean by that?"
"You know what I mean." Ulises waved off the comment and stuffed the clothing into the suitcase. "I'm not going to chase you like some of the others have. I'll respect your boundaries. I know where I stand."
"I don't think you do." But Izzy left the room, standing right outside the open door. He watched Ulises as if he were worried about him falling over but it seemed he wanted space at the same time.
When Ulises was done, he shut the suitcase and zipped it.
"Let me get it." Izzy took the suitcase from his hands. "This thing weighs as much as you do."
"It has rollers." Ulises needed to get it off the bed. He could roll it the rest of the way.
Izzy shook his head. "Stubborn."
"I'm giving you what you want."
Izzy turned, getting so close Ulises felt Izzy's breath on his face. "You don't know what I want."
Ulises pushed at Izzy's chest. "Actually, I do since you told me the other day."
"Why do you always have to argue with me?"
Ulises shrugged. "It's a gift. Now get out of my face, Izzy. I mean it."
Izzy grinned and shook his head. But then he chuckled as he carried the suitcase.
"Do you not hear me when I said the suitcase has rollers?"
"I heard you. Since I'm not ninety pounds soaking wet, I can carry it."
"I am not ninety pounds." Ulises flipped him off behind his back.
The others in the room chuckled. Thankfully, Gavin and Easton were the only ones still there.
"Maybe not. But you’re a sassy boy who needs duct tape over his mouth and a spanking."
"You're not my daddy, so fuck off, Izzy."
Izzy mumbled something that sounded like, "Not yet." But that couldn't be right. Izzy didn't want a permanent boy and Ulises didn't want to be anything less.
Chapter Ten
Izzy lay on his bed in his underwear. It was too early to go to sleep but the alternative was to go to the club and get shitfaced, which never solved a single thing. Usually he was good at shoving down his problems, hiding them away from himself so he didn't have to deal with them. In the past, it had worked out.
Sometimes, if he drank enough and buried himself in enough willing holes, he could forget he’d had a sister at all. Those moments were fleeting. They lasted until the alcohol wore off and the regret set in.
Afterward he was right back where he started, mourning a woman who’d been more his mother than his sibling. It had been years since he'd had to say goodbye to the one person he’d loved the most in the world.
He'd tried to rationalize his feelings by acknowledging how he was always destined to lose her. She was human. Humans had a much shorter lifespan than dragon shifters. All it meant was he would be in the exact spot he was in. He couldn't help butwonder if every road he could have taken would have always led him to the same place.
And where was that exactly?
Izzy sighed and shook his head.
He had no fucking clue. All he knew was he didn't like the place he was in and wasn't that a shitty thing to feel after all these years.
Maya would have asked him what the hell he thought he was doing playing around with hearts like he was. And he would have said he hadn't made any promises to anyone and that included Ulises. But that was before he'd promised to chauffeur him everywhere.
